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Please forgive me being boring, I love sewing machines and have owned a lot of different ones. Feel free to skip my post!

This is my main machine. I bought her used off ebay sort of by mistake a good number of years ago. She has been fantastic and I am completely spoiled by some of the features. She baulks a little at really heavy stuff but I have a rocketeer (no picture) -- a singer 503a that I drag out for that who could sew through a tree or two. Plus the rocketeers are so pretty.

This is my workhorse though, my serger. Please excuse the mess, I am a messy sew-er. I had a fancy Bernina one that I had to sell many years ago when we had a very expensive plumbing problem. I went to Walmart and bought a $150 machine to tide me over. I made hundreds of cloth diapers on this machine sewing through four layers of towelling and other heavy duty fabrics. This machine is 12 years old, has never been professionally serviced and treated very poorly because I thought it was a temporary solution. I later bought a TOL Baby lock and sold it, I like this better. It is loud and not very sophisticated but is the machine I use more than anything.

I also use my son's lotus, especially when I need to go somewhere. It is a ¾ size and so fun. No free arm though which makes kids clothes a little tricky. This was a bargain ebay machine, it cost less than $100 and was in fantastic shape with all original doodads except the original needles. He does not appreciate it at all now but loved it when he was young.

I also have a Viking 6440 that needs a spare part and came to me broken. It has sat for some time though, perhaps when #1 son goes to college...

I think my favourite machine ever was a Pfaff 1471 I bought from an estate sale without trying it. It was $25 but needed extensive repairs and I baulked when the local pfaff dealer told me how much. He told me that it was worth it and if I didn't like her when she was fixed up he would buy it from me at a profit. She sewed very beautifully and the dual feed on the pfaffs is a pleasure to sew with, especially on slippery muck like nylon. My friend adored her and persuaded me to sell her to her. I also had a Pfaff 1222e that was a fantastic machine. I sold her to pay for the repairs on the 1471. If you find either of these machines in good repair you will be very happy with them!

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I think my favourite machine ever was a Pfaff 1471 I bought from an estate sale without trying it. It was $25 but needed extensive repairs and I baulked when the local pfaff dealer told me how much. He told me that it was worth it and if I didn't like her when she was fixed up he would buy it from me at a profit. She sewed very beautifully and the dual feed on the pfaffs is a pleasure to sew with, especially on slippery muck like nylon. My friend adored her and persuaded me to sell her to her. I also had a Pfaff 1222e that was a fantastic machine. I sold her to pay for the repairs on the 1471. If you find either of these machines in good repair you will be very happy with them!

+1
I really like my Pfaff 1222SE machine...and I fixed my wife's 1222E after a (plastic) gear failed when I was 'borrowing' the machine from her..so now we have two in our 'collection'.
Love the Pfaff dual feed....

OOH, what is an SE? My husband would kill me if he knew I was looking wistfully at pfaffs on ebay. If I could have my viking with the pfaff dual feed I think that would be very cool. When I got my 1222e it had a broken plastic something, whatever that something is that always goes on that machine.

I've sewn on a good number of other machines. One of my best friend's is a featherweight aficionado and and I've sewn on her machine a number of times. I'll give you that they are adorable and easy to schlep around but I found the flat bed really slippery on it and it has no free arm which makes sewing baby clothes a little tricky. Another friend had an Elna Grasshopper, cool good machine, but she also had a PF 1221 and I couldn't see much past that. I learned on my mother's Frister Rossman. Fantastic machine, but the plastic is breaking on it. A number of years ago she ended up buying a pfaff after using one of mine and really liking the quality of the stitch. One machine brand that has a lot of fans is Bernina, but I really don't like their modern machines and I SERIOUSLY don't like their presser foot prices.

Gosh, I forgot to mention. The reason I ended up with my current machine is because I went to a sewing convention in WA state (the one in Puyallup) and a friend raved about her Viking #1 (the previous ToL from Viking before the Designer series). I found one cheap on ebay selling at midnight and bought it. Lovely little machine. My friend still has hers, I sold mine for a profit and upgraded to the designer.

OOH, what is an SE? My husband would kill me if he knew I was looking wistfully at pfaffs on ebay. If I could have my viking with the pfaff dual feed I think that would be very cool. When I got my 1222e it had a broken plastic something, whatever that something is that always goes on that machine.

There's not much difference between the 1222E and 1222SE as far as I can tell.
1222SE: Different color scheme (not an improvement, IMO)
Snap-on feet

A lot of the comments I've read online about the 1222 machines are from folks who either don't know how to operate the machine (no manual?) and miss features like the Stopmatic control on the presser foot lever, or are using machines that have 'problems'.

Aside from the plastic gears failing, the other common problem is the power switch. If you are lucky, it will break in the 'ON' position and you can just improvise by plugging and unplugging the cord. You can (still- but for how long?) get power switches online.